Vedado-Hillcrest now a historic neighborhood

Vedado-Hillcrest is the latest West Palm neighborhood to earn a spot on the National Register of Historic Places, giving the neighborhood more prestige and helping in its fight against the airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration FAA had fought to block the historic designation, and agency officials visited Tallahassee last year to argue that the neighborhood didn’t qualify for historic resources. The historic designation could interfere with the airport’s plan to add a second runway for jets.

State preservation managers disagreed with the FAA, and Vedado-Hillcrest has earned its long anticipated designation.

“It’s been three years of hard work trying to achieve this,” said Vedado-Hillcrest neighborhood president Jose Rodriguez at Monday’s commission meeting. “It takes a village and it did.”

Mayor Frankel applauded the designation.

“This is a huge accomplishment,” Frankel said. “When you start to think about who we are, what makes us different, our historic neighborhoods are so important because that’s West Palm Beach and it tells the story about us.
“Mr. Rodriguez, your leadership was fantastic, but it was a whole community. The airport tried to stop the designation, but it took lot of good lobbying, perseverance, and congratulations in really earning something wonderful for the city. It raises property values and helps maintain the character of who we are.” p maintain